Podnar's first credited work was as animatronics assistant and location crew member for the company Mechanical and Makeup Imagieries Inc. on the science fiction comedy The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987) on which he worked with Camille Calvet and Karin Hanson. He then worked as scenic artist for the horror film Cellar Dweller (1988) and in the special effects department for the horror thriller To Die For (1988, with Wayne Toth) and the horror sequel Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988, with Karin Hanson, Richard Snell, Martin Becker, and Joe Lombardi). Beside his work as an actor on the horror film The Jitters (1989) and in the make-up department for the horror comedy The Sleeping Car (1989, along with Richard Snell and Wayne Toth) and the horror sequel Watchers II (1990, with Dean Jones), he worked in the special make-up effects department for the company Magical Media Industries, Inc. on the horror films A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988, with Martin Becker, Camille Calvet, Roger Borelli, Mark Garbarino, Leonard MacDonald, Wayne Toth, Bart Mixon, Scott Wheeler, and Brian Wade), Bride of Re-Animator (1990, with Ron Althoff, Jim Davidson, Anthony Doublin, Alan McFarland, Robert Stromberg, Wayne Toth, and Brian Wade), and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991, with Dayne Johnson, Wayne Toth, and Marlene Stoller).